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| Port of Tartus, Syria one of the world's oldest now being destroyed by civil war |
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| This young man might make a first class Officer - today one wonders however |
By designation of the United Nations today is World Maritime Day which is celebrated during the last week of September and is a movable date.
With its usual insensitivity to national events the UN/IMO has selected the great tragedy of the RMS Titanic (NAUTICAL LOG is even reluctant to type that name) as its World Maritime Day theme.
The excuse used with this choice of theme was to bring attention to maritime safety - after 100 years totally out of date !! Pretty reflective of how the UN/IMO works. The logic of the UN/IMO boggles the mind but then look at the nonsense going on there this week in the UN Building New York, NY with speeches by some of the worlds greatest scumbags with whom one has a wide and varied selection to choose from both male and female.
NAUTICAL LOG noted two items just this week which reflects the state of world shipping from the manning aspect . The British MCA has developed an alternative method for non-sailing Officers to re-validate their Certificates of Competency (see the latest NLIN) the situation for trained Officers being so poor they hope to get at least some Officers with experience back on the Bridge. The other item was published in Marine Cafe Blog about recruiting crews in Manila's Luneta Park This in violation of the local laws but then what do those matter since only seafarers are involved, we being the third-world class of person.
Certainly NAUTICAL LOG is bitter and disgusted by these pathetic National Governments, the United Nations and of course the virtually useless International Maritime Organization which is good only for writing voluminous regulations which few have the time to read, understand and follow - then the ship operators work around them anyway with illegal dumping bypass pipes and impractical safety drills just to fill in the Record Books and show the passangers now known as "guests," the greatest offenders at present being the cruise industry.
So UN/IMO enjoy your World Maritime Day but do not expect us seafarers to bother too much about it because like 75% of the stuff coming from UN/IMO administrations it is pointless, meaningless and mostly impractical.
Good Watch.
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